tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-267967203861801529.post8887697394180787245..comments2023-11-05T01:50:52.745-08:00Comments on Straight Up Coding: GEB Week 0: Introduction, strange loopsBrian Jorgensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15022352466216728844noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-267967203861801529.post-80169137541756816922007-05-24T12:01:00.000-07:002007-05-24T12:01:00.000-07:00This may be more of a paradox than a strange loop,...<A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interesting_number_paradox" REL="nofollow">This</A> may be more of a paradox than a strange loop, but I like it all the same.<BR/><BR/>In short: what is the first 'non-interesting' number? Does that fact make the number interesting?<BR/><BR/>Wikipedia also keeps a list of notable numbers but that has its own <A HREF="http://11011110.livejournal.com/91281.html" REL="nofollow">paradox</A>.Martin Harriganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01610696350600503266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-267967203861801529.post-81183396051534356372007-05-18T08:26:00.000-07:002007-05-18T08:26:00.000-07:00I enjoyed that page, except for the conclusion: "T...I enjoyed that page, except for the conclusion: "The moral is obvious. You can't trust code that you did not totally create yourself." Ouch.<BR/><BR/>Surely <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PyPy" REL="nofollow">PyPy</A> is a strange loop. What about recursive acronyms, such as GNU's Not Unix? <BR/><BR/>Here's a good one from the <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_loop" REL="nofollow">Strange Loop</A> wikipedia page:<BR/><BR/><I>A sketch on Late Night with Conan O'Brien once had Conan (seemingly spontaneously) become upset with a cue-card holder and tell him to leave the set; immediately, the cue-card holder was shown, holding a card with Conan's "you'd better leave" line written on it.</I><BR/><BR/>What other strange loops can we identify in <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meatspace" REL="nofollow">meatspace</A>?Brian Jorgensenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15022352466216728844noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-267967203861801529.post-26946945660750978632007-05-17T20:38:00.000-07:002007-05-17T20:38:00.000-07:00How about this little gem? Of course, there is a t...How about <A HREF="http://www.acm.org/classics/sep95/" REL="nofollow">this little gem</A>? Of course, there is a the whole class of paradox, like "This sentence has two erors." Or from GEB itself (p. 21):<BR/><BR/> This following sentence is false.<BR/> The preceding sentence is true.<BR/><BR/>Here one in Python: <BR/> >>> a=[]<BR/> >>> a.append(a)<BR/> >>> a<BR/> [[...]]<BR/><BR/>Or even shorter:<BR/><BR/> a = lambda: a<BR/><BR/>And finally, my personal favorite:<BR/><BR/> Hofstadter's Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.Alexandrehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10338659962011326420noreply@blogger.com